Has anyone ever made homemade vinegar? Would love to know how you do it 🙂
Vinegar
May
13
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Has anyone ever made homemade vinegar? Would love to know how you do it 🙂
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David says:
I have and am currently doing such.
Last Fall I had about 6 gallons of apple cider that began to turn into vinegar. I added some Bragg’s unfiltered apple cider vinegar to the cider to make sure I had the proper organisms to convert the cider. In a couple months I had a nice home made vinegar and over the winter it only got better.
This spring as part of preparing for the upcoming canning season I started another batch with some apple juice I had canned – spiked with some of my home made goodness.
The process is simple – a clean container, some apple juice or cider and possibly some “mother” from earlier runs of vinegar. All that is needed from there is time. I don’t have a specific recipe rather a general method.
On May 13, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Carolyn says:
Yes, I make vinegar from apple cider, pineapple peelings and other types of fruit. The trimmings from fruits like peaches or apples will work, too. I wrote a post on my blog a few months ago about using Sandor Katz’s directions for making pineapple vinegar and described how I made cider vinegar in another earlier post.
You can buy mother of vinegar to jump start a batch but a jug of unpastuerized cider vinegar with the gelatinous mother in it can serve the same purpose. And you don’t have to have a MOV to start your own vinegar. You can just rely on the air to bring you the wild stuff like when making sourdough without adding purchased yeast.
Best not to plan on using homemade vinegar for pickling and preserving unless you want to get into vinegar titration so you can tell if your vinegar has at least 5% acidity. But homemade vinegar works great for salad dressings, marinades and in other regular recipes.
On May 19, 2010 at 3:57 pm
David says:
It is so good for salad dressings, marinades and other used where the special flavors of your vinegar will shine. I’ve been considering setting up to do the titrations (as a chemist that isn’t something foreign to me) but I haven’t done so as of yeyt.
On May 19, 2010 at 4:23 pm
debbie says:
Thanks so much! Can you give me an idea of how much of the “mother” or how much of the unfiltered vinegar to add to a gallon of juice?
On May 21, 2010 at 7:42 am
David says:
In my case I had a pint of Bragg’s unfiltered apple cider vinegar and about 5 gallons of steam juiced crabapple juice. To 3 gallons I added maybe half the pint. Since I had steam juiced to get the juice I wasn’t sure if I had a sufficient quantity of the bacteria to convert the juice to vinegar. The part I spiked did “work” quicker but after 6 months the results of each version (with and without the Bragg’s ACV) was equal.
Being my first attempt at making vinegar I wanted to cover my bases.
On May 21, 2010 at 7:49 am
debbie says:
I hate to be such a pest, BUT 🙂 I have another question. I juiced several gallons of apple juice last year to make jelly. I canned over 100 jars and was, quite frankly, sick of looking at it. I put the juice in jars and stuck them in the spare refrig…where they still are. I just looked at them and there is “stuff” floating in it. It looks like an off-white gelatinous substance, which is what the “mother” is described as? The juice still smells like juice and has no mold or anything else in it. I’m posting pics and would appreciate your opinion as to what I should do 🙂
Thanks!
On May 21, 2010 at 4:18 pm
David says:
I haven’t seen the pics yet but this does sound like a mother. as the mother works it should slowly sink in the container or maybe even divide with part sinking and part floating. If the mother has had enough time to work (with exposure to the air – oxygen is needed to make vinegar) you should be able to smell and taste the acidity. That comes along slowly so depending on the “age” of the vinegar it could be barely detectable.
On May 21, 2010 at 4:32 pm
debbie says:
Can’t find a place to post the pics 🙁 but, there is some floating in the jar and more settled on the bottom.
This has been in covered jars in the refrigerator since last summer. Should I set them out on the counter and see what happens?
Suggestions for posting a pic? I tried to put it as my avatar and couldn’t get that to work either.
I’ve posted pics to the cooking forum, but don’t see the option on this one.
On May 21, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Pete says:
Would really suggest that the pics be posted over at the forum, as a new topic under the Farmhouse Table, for chit chat about kitchen stuff.
There probably wasn’t a way to post pics set up here because it was thought it would just be a place to make requests for a recipe which would be posted with the other recipes.
This is a great topic for discussion! Please, please, please post those pics and let us all in on what is going on!!
On May 21, 2010 at 4:53 pm
David says:
Can’t help you on the pic posting but I’m sure someone who knows will enlighten both of us.
I would take one of the jars out of the fridge, cover with a cloth or my favorite a coffee filter held by a rubber band and let nature take course. I don’t chill my vinegar.
On May 21, 2010 at 4:57 pm
debbie says:
Finally got the pic to post as my avatar haha. Since I have been attempting to post a pic, there is more, LOTS more, “stuff” floating in the jar 🙂 I am really hoping this is a good thing. (All 3 gallons are now sitting on my counter, tops off, and will cover with coffee filters.)
On May 21, 2010 at 5:01 pm
David says:
Hard to see from the avatar pic but that does sound like the actions of the mother.
Maybe post as Pete suggested or if you use a photosite I’m thinking you could post a link.
If things don’t get in the way I’ll take a couple pics of my “use jar” of vinegar and post a link to the photosite I use.
On May 21, 2010 at 5:11 pm
debbie says:
Changed the avatar…a better pic 🙂
On May 21, 2010 at 5:22 pm
David says:
This link leads you to some quick pics I took of my “use jar”
http://mynetimages.com/album/tractor57/vinegar/
On May 21, 2010 at 5:53 pm